Fuses are among the simplest and most compact mechanism for programming integrated circuit functions. Among the types of fuses currently used there are two main types, transistor based fuses and metal wire based fuses. As dimensions of fuses have decreased, transistor based fuses have become increasingly inoperable due to the inherent robustness of the gate material which is the fusible portion of transistor based fuses and the reliability of programming metal wire fuses has been negatively effected by the dimensional control of the lithographic processes used to fabricate metal wire fuses. Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to mitigate the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.